Volunteer Spotlight | Mabel Trim

Volunteer Spotlight

DeBary woman crochets for a cause

Mabel Trim has volunteered at Florida Hospital Fish Memorial in Orange City since it opened 10 years ago.

May 22, 2005|By Terry O. Roen, Sentinel Staff Writer

DEBARY -- Mabel Trim learned she doesn't like to be idle.

When the reception desk at Florida Hospital Fish Memorial gets slow, she pulls out her bag of yarn and starts crocheting lap blankets. She gives the multicolored blankets to hospital patients and residents at John Knox Village in Orange City and DeBary Nursing Home.

Trim learned to crochet in a needle class she was required to take at Clydeback High School in Scotland. The 86-year-old said she remembered the technique but had to get a Florida Hospital nurse to show her how to crochet the corners when she started knitting the blankets four years ago.

The DeBary woman has volunteered for the Florida Hospital Auxiliary since the Orange City hospital opened 10 years ago. She has amassed more than 15,000 volunteer hours by working nearly every day since then. Trim cut back her hours last year to three days a week after she was hospitalized with health problems.

She still drives to the hospital and eats lunch in the cafeteria after her four-hour shift. Florida Hospital Auxiliary volunteers get a free meal for every four hours of work.

"It's a pleasure to tell people where to go," the great-grandmother said. "They never forget the Scottish lady."

Trim said she has empathy for hospital patients and family members because of the 13 months she spent in a tuberculosis hospital after World War II.

She had to live in an underground shelter during the war after her Glasgow apartment was destroyed by bombs.

Trim worked inspecting typewriters for the Remington Rand Corp. and drilled periscopes for tanks during the war. She said she moved to the United States to work as a nanny in Great Neck, N.Y., to find "a rich American and ended up marrying an Englishman."

"When people complain about being in the hospital, I tell them they're lucky: If there were no hospital, you wouldn't be here," Trim said.

The petite volunteer said she thanks God daily for her ability to drive and work at a job she loves. She said too many people reach their 60s or 70s and think they are unable to be productive.

Ivor Trim, her stepson, said he has tried to get her to cut back on her hours, but she wants to continue working.

"You just can't hold her back," said Ivor Trim, who also lives in DeBary.

Auxiliary volunteers apply their talents to a variety of jobs, including clerical services, public relations, women's health care and working at the Pinkie Resale Shop, which raises money for the auxiliary.

Those interested in volunteering should call the volunteer-services coordinator at 386-943-4820.